Update: this story was edited to reflect the reality that multiple platforms were used to spread a fabricated story about a rape.
When United Hatzalah makes an active decision to spread fabricated stories on platforms like The Ben Shapiro Show and Morning Joe on MSNBC, it exploits a fundamental trust inherent in the interview format. Hosts such as Shapiro, Scarborough, and Brzezinski cannot realistically fact-check every single detail that a guest shares in real time. The assumption is that those who are given the microphone are speaking truthfully and in good faith, not deliberately misleading. By presenting falsehoods in those contexts, United Hatzalah not only misleads audiences across the political spectrum but also abuses the credibility of the hosts, who rely on their guests to uphold a basic standard of honesty. This is precisely why such actions are so corrosive: they weaponize trust and turn it into a tool of manipulation.
United Hatzalah used both conservative and liberal media megaphones, Ben Shapiro’s massive platform and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, to amplify a sensationalized story about October 7th that has since been shown to be false. By placing the tale before two of the most influential and ideologically different audiences in American media, the organization gave the narrative a veneer of credibility and ensured it spread widely. Instead of focusing on verified facts from that day, they chose to promote a dramatic account that played into fear and emotion. The use of such respected stages to spread a hoax raises serious questions about whether United Hatzalah was deliberately manipulating public perception, using the legitimacy of trusted voices to push claims that collapse under scrutiny.
The story centered on Itai and Hadar Berdichevsky, the young couple from Kfar Aza who were murdered in their home while protecting their ten-month-old twins. United Hatzalah told Shapiro’s audience a distorted version of events, suggesting lurid details that were never verified and that contradicted what was later confirmed by the IDF and the family. By manipulating the facts of this tragedy, the organization not only disrespected the memory of the Berdichevskys but also misled hundreds of thousands of viewers who trusted they were hearing an accurate account. This episode highlights how easily grief and heroism can be exploited for fundraising and publicity when dramatic embellishments take precedence over truth.
Here’s a transcript of the section in question from United Hatzalah’s appearance on Shapiro’s show:
My family are all United Hatzalah volunteers. My wife, Gitti, is a medic, a paramedic. My son—he’s actually in the Special Forces—is also a medic there. My whole family. Everyone was giving me reports back of what they saw.
My wife saw a young boy running away from that party—they had an overnight party—and the terrorists caught him and shot him, about 25 times in his body. They tried to make sure no one could even recognize him. They laid him down and lit a bonfire.
Gitti arrived five minutes later, after treating other victims. The terrorists were gone by then. She ran into the burning fire to save this body—at least so that the Jews should not burn. We saw it firsthand, we witnessed it. My wife, my kids, all the volunteers were there.
We went into a home in Kfar Aza. The parents had called us early in the morning, 6:30, crying for help. They had been in the shelter for two hours, trying to hide with their twin babies. They had just gotten married two years ago. A beautiful, peaceful couple, and now they had beautiful twins. They were calling for help from inside the shelter.
Then the mother realized the babies were starving. She said, “Okay, the terrorists are not outside the door.” She checked, heard no noise, and went out to bring a bottle to feed them. When she stepped out, the terrorists jumped at her and brutally raped her. The husband ran out to save her. They shot him and killed him in front of her eyes. Then they raped her again, killed her, and left.
The two babies were left there. We didn’t know about them. The mother had been crying, and we thought the babies were dead too. Sixteen hours later, when the Special Forces, the Yamam units, came into the village after they cleared out the Kfar Aza area—where 60% of the people were massacred, some burned, little babies with their heads chopped off—we saw the whole thing.
The Yamam came in, and our volunteers went in with them. They searched the home to see if anyone had survived. They went in with guns, checking for terrorists. Then they heard a baby crying. These two babies had been lying there for 16 hours, crying, only six months old.
When our volunteers held those babies, they felt like partisans in 1943. That’s how we all felt. Like partisans running in to save Jews that the Nazis were murdering in the gas chambers.
United Hatzalah went even further by claiming that the Berdichevskys themselves had called the organization’s private non-emergency line. There is no evidence to support this assertion, as Israel’s official emergency number is Magen David Adom’s 101 line. The group also alleged that Hadar was brutally raped multiple times, a charge that was never substantiated by any credible source. In addition, they claimed their volunteers were embedded with Yamam commandos in the rescue of the twins. The facts tell a different story. It was the Golani Brigade, led by the heroic Tomer Grinberg—who was later killed in Gaza—who rescued the babies and evacuated them out of Kfar Aza.
Only afterward did two United Hatzalah volunteers drive the children to the hospital, and they deserve recognition for providing that care. But the version told on Ben Shapiro’s show by United Hatzalah was not just exaggerated, it was a highly fabricated account that misrepresented both the tragedy and the true heroes involved.
All available evidence indicates that Itai and Hadar Berdichevsky were among the very first casualties of the morning of October 7. Despite this, United Hatzalah claimed that the couple had called their private emergency line at 6:30 a.m. and then waited in their home for two hours as events unfolded. This timeline is completely implausible and directly contradicted by the facts later confirmed by the IDF and the family. By constructing such a narrative, United Hatzalah not only inserted themselves into a story where their role was limited but also presented a version of events that collapses under even basic scrutiny.
United Hatzalah also promoted the claim that the “orphaned twins [were] rescued from the carnage by a United Hatzalah volunteer.” In reality, while it is true that two volunteers gave the infants water and transported them to the hospital—a brave and compassionate act that deserves recognition—the framing of this story as if United Hatzalah alone had carried out the rescue is sensationalized and misleading. The actual rescue was performed by the Golani Brigade, and the volunteers’ role, though meaningful, came afterward. By overstating their part, United Hatzalah distorted the truth and turned a moment of genuine heroism into a tool for self-promotion.
People responded to the video, which was posted around October 23, 2023, following the appearance on the show, with strong emotion. In the comments on YouTube, viewers praised the story and encouraged others to support the organization. One commenter wrote that they had made a donation to United Hatzalah as soon as the video ended, while another called Eli a hero and recommended that everyone contribute. The immediate reactions highlight how the video was not only moving but also served as a direct fundraising appeal.
According to Leonardo Berdichevsky, the grandfather of Itai, the couple were among the first victims in Kfar Aza on the morning of October 7. Hadar was killed when she stepped out to prepare bottles for their ten-month-old twins, and Itai was shot soon after as terrorists tried to break into the safe room. Their babies were left alone beside the bodies of their parents for roughly fourteen hours until soldiers from the Golani Brigade, led by Tomer Grinberg, entered the house, found them alive, and carried them to safety. Grinberg, who was later killed in Gaza, is remembered by the family as the true hero who saved the children.
This testimony from the family makes no mention of United Hatzalah’s non-emergency line, nor does it contain any reference to rape. It directly contradicts the story the organization told on Ben Shapiro’s show. The claims that the Berdichevskys called United Hatzalah at 6:30 a.m. and waited two hours are implausible given that they were killed almost immediately. The assertion that Hadar was raped multiple times and that UH volunteers were embedded with Yamam is entirely fabricated. In truth, Golani soldiers rescued the twins and United Hatzalah volunteers only later transported them to the hospital.
The contrast between what United Hatzalah claimed and what the Berdichevsky family themselves have testified could not be starker. The family’s account is simple, tragic, and verifiable: Itai and Hadar were killed almost immediately, their babies survived alone for hours, and Golani soldiers under Tomer Grinberg rescued them. United Hatzalah’s version turned this truth into a spectacle filled with false calls, invented rapes, and embellished military heroics. In doing so, they exploited the deepest grief of a family and the ultimate sacrifice of an IDF officer for organizational gain. The facts show that the real heroes were the parents who fought for their children, the Golani soldiers who pulled them from danger, and the volunteers who later ensured they reached medical care. Anything else is distortion.
United Hatzalah also spread sensationalized stories in the immediate aftermath of October 7th, including claims about a baby being cut out of a mother’s stomach and infants placed in ovens, stories that have since been discredited. These fabrications were not confined to one audience. They were repeated on Morning Joe on MSNBC and on The Ben Shapiro Show, ensuring that the falsehoods reached millions of viewers across the political spectrum. Such choices reveal a troubling disregard for accuracy at a moment when truth mattered most. Rather than prioritizing verified facts, the organization chose to amplify shocking narratives that stoked emotion but collapsed under scrutiny. It is therefore fair to conclude that United Hatzalah did not make factual integrity its highest priority in those critical days, raising serious concerns about its credibility as a source of information.
That United Hatzalah chose to tell this fabricated story on some of the most influential platforms in the world makes the deception even more damaging. Even the Dinah Project, which has meticulously documented cases of sexual violence on October 7, makes no mention of the alleged brutal rape of Hadar Berdichevsky. This silence from the most authoritative body on the subject underscores that the claim is baseless. For a Jewish organization to manipulate the memory of October 7 in this way is not only a betrayal of the truth, it is a betrayal of the very people they claim to serve. If Jewish philanthropy is to mean anything, it must be built on facts, integrity, and respect for the victims, not on manufactured horror designed to open wallets.
